Blue Ash (Dark Souls III/PMMM)

It seems like staying close is going to be the best option, judging by how he's acting. You're proven correct when Gundyr leaps forward once again to try and skewer you with his halberd, which you narrowly dodge. The halberd instead smashes into the wall where you were a moment ago, throwing up a thick cloud of dust, ash and powderized stone. With the visibility reduced from all the junk in the air, you're free to get a good, clean hit on him finally.

Or so you'd hoped. However, Gundyr tears his halberd out of the wall that he impaled it into, the force clearing the area of any particles still floating around in the air. Seeing you rushing him again, he raise his left hand to try and grab you. However, you're too close for him to be able to do so, and instead he merely blocks your thrust with his hand, the sword going clean through, all the way up to the hilt.

Despite the sudden new addition to his palm, Gundyr's hand is still large enough that he's able to grab onto your own hand, which is still gripping the hilt of your sword. You struggle, trying to pull the blade out, or to simply force the blade downward through the rest of his hand and into his arm, but his sheer strength prevents you from moving the blade, let alone your body, an inch. Gundyr, now having grabbed a hold of you, idly raises you up above him, swings and releases, sending you flying towards the edge of the cliff

Without losing a moment you have another sword in hand, which you thrust into the ground to help slow you down. You're able to decelerate enough that you Gundyr lets out a grunt of pain as he pulls your sword out of his hand. Compared to him, your sword looks more like a knife than anything. As you rush back in, you throw a four swords at Gundyr, one of which he smashes apart with his halberd, two of which miss, but the last lands in Gundyr's leg, setting the hulking warrior off balance. You take the opportunity to charge back in at him another blade at the ready.

Blood continues to drip down out of Gundyr's many wounds. The arena is now practically coated in the stuff, to the point where you're not sure how he's even still standing, let alone alive. Suddenly, Gundyr begins spasming, his body convulsing in a painful manner. As he does, the black tentacles on his back begin spewing out what looks to be tar, or some other viscous substance, all around them. They begin to grow in size, swallowing the armored man's upper body within an instant. A white arm shoots out of the mess, spraying more of the thick slime all around. The tentacles, now more like fleshy orbs, continue to grow, finally fusing together into one large abomination, which resembles a black snake head with glowing red eyes.

Which you're right below. You aren't able to do much before you're soaked from head to toe in the muck.
You get ready to rush back in whe-

wait what
what's happening
where are you
what is going on the last thing you remember was burning alive after kyoko killed herself for you
wheresmadokawhydoeseverythinghurtwhycan'tyougohomewhereremomanddadwhydidhitomibetrayyourtrustyouthoughtshewasyourfriendyoudiedandnowwhatwhyareyouherenothingmakessenseanymore

It's like you just woke up from a dream where nothing made sense, and you had been going along with it because dream logic always makes sense, except it wasn't a dream. It was actually happening, and now the dream logic's fallen apart in front of you as the mental barrier finally breaks and everything spills out. Tears fill your eyes, as the realization of just what is actually happening finally hits you. You barely notice the scream of rage that bursts out of your lungs as you charge the mound of black ooze that was once a hulking armored warrior named Gundyr. You practically smash into him, your sword piercing through his chest. The goo-snake tries to smash you into the ground with it's sheer size, but you're able to easily avoid it's clumsy movement. Instead you stab another blade through Gundyr's body, this time through his pelvis, into one of his hips. You see the effect this has as Gundyr and the goo-snake come crashing down to the ground, unable to support the combined weight anymore after the leg gives out, leaving Gundyr pinned beneath the beast. Despite this, the snake isn't going down that easily, and hisses at you before moving to take a bite out of your face.

It never gets close to touching you. You hack and slash away at the blob, avoiding or otherwise simply ignoring all the strikes that Gundyr and the snake try to hit you back with. You've already turned off your sense of pain, what's a little more going to do to you? You hack and slash until the sword you're using begins to crack, only to leave it impaled and spawn another and continue on without losing a beat. Piece by piece, the thing that spawned from Gundyr's body is torn apart. He... it tries to resist, flailing around and screeching, but you show it no mercy as more and more swords are shoved into the thing's body. The ground, once coated with the red sheen of Gundyr's blood, is now practically dyed black with viscous ichor that both pools in all the various cracks and holes in the stone, and floats atop the water's surface. There's so much of the goop that it begins to leak off the side of the cliff, falling who knows where down below. By this point you're coated in the vile substance as you each swing of your blade causes more to spray out.

You don't even register the screams and cries that leave you as you mindlessly hack away, ripping the beast apart. The creature thrashes around violently, spraying more of its lifeblood as it desperately tries to get you off of it, but you show no respite. The monster smashes itself against the ground, trying to flatten you with its sheer mass, but by this point you've already moved on to a different part of it, and its violent flailing achieves nothing more than a cry of desperation. A moment of clarity has you find yourself back at the body of Gundyr, having cut your way all the way through. Even now, Gundyr's body refuses to give in, and an arm slowly reaches for you. With a quick slice, the arm hits the ground and is quickly knocked away by the rampaging monster that emerged from Gundyr's body.

Slowly, the serpent loses its strength, its speed slowing and its strength fading. It still makes some halfhearted attempts to resist, but it soon is unable to lift itself off the ground, simply hissing at you as you continue your work. Finally with a loud screech the serpent ceases its struggling entirely, and the corpse, or rather the sliced pile of meat falls still. That doesn't stop you from continuing to tear away at the cadaver, drenching yourself further in whatever fluid passes for blood for the creature.

You feel a heat appear inside your chest all of a sudden. It quickly spreads throughout your body. You suddenly feel exhausted, to the point where your eyes feel so heavy that you can't keep them open for a moment longer. You stumble around for a moment, trying to figure out what's going on, but it proves to be too much, and you find yourself collapsing into the peaceful embrace of sleep. The last thing you hear is a pair of heavy footsteps approaching you before you're out completely.

---

Author's Note: Well, uh, that happened. Follow up post will come tomorrow.

I remember now what the problem with using dice in quests is. If you hadn't failed the resistance roll that hard, you wouldn't have been forced to make an extra attack, but then you ended up obliterating Gundyr with a 92 and a nat 100 crit, meaning you won the fight. I did not expect the dice to be anywhere near that level of bipolar. Then again, I've followed enough quests by now that I should've remembered that the dice are always like this. Being on the receiving end of this feels weird.

Treat Abyssal Corruption as you would Grief in any other PMMM quest, as it functions quite similarly (the only real mechanical difference is that you can receive modifiers to your current level of corruption through outside means, although these will rare.). After all, what is Grief but one's Want denied? For to be human is to be cursed, as the curse of Life is the curse of Want.

The first thing you hear is the sound of metal clanging against metal. It's really annoying, and you'd like it to stop, because you haven't been able to sleep in for what feels like way too long. Or even really get much sleep in general, which probably explains why you really don't feel like waking up. Sadly, that does nothing to actually stop the noise, so you reach for a pillow to at least cover up your ears.

When you grab open air, you remember that you're not asleep in your bed, back at home. Your eyes burst open in a panic as you push yourself off the ground. You transform and summon a sword, ready for combat in a near instant, or so you'd like to tell yourself. You're scared out of your mind right now, and if it comes to a fight you doubt you'd be in any position to put up one. From where you are, you can recognize you're back in the Shrine, but what part of it and how you got here you have no idea, and that loud clanging isn't helping, that's for sure.

"Woah, woah, calm down there!" A deep voice calls out to you. Turning, you see a massive old man, seated behind a table with a hammer in a raised hand. "Easy, take a deep breath, c'mon now." Hesitantly, you do as he says, and try to relax. It takes you a moment, but eventually your breathing returns to normal, and you drop the transformation. As you do, you realize something. You actually feel pretty good, physically at least. The exhaustion and various different aches you had to deal with seem to have vanished, and you feel like you've had a full night's rest. Sadly, all of this does little to ease your worries.

"Was worried y' had died back there, with all that blood and what not splattered about." He reaches down to the ground behind the table and picks something up, before placing it down on top of it. "Y'know, you're supposed to drink this stuff when y' get hurt, right?"

It's the orange flask you found when you first woke up, however long ago that was. Huh. "I, uh, didn't know that..." You admit, "I just woke up and found it lying around."

The man gives you a funny look, before continuing. "After all the commotion died down, and nobody came back, normally it's a sign that whoever's trying has failed, but the Fire Keeper asked me to go and make sure. I found y' laying in a pool of blood, but y' had done it, so I brought y' back and let y' rest up. You looked like y' needed it, lass."

"Well, um, thank you? I was just doing the right thing, I think?" you reply.

"Aye, that y' were. Anyhow..." the man beckons you over. You approach him hesitantly, stopping near the table that you now realize has most of your belongings laying spread out on it. Now that you can actually see him, you can tell that he's shirtless, which while making sense due to the practical layer of sweat coating his body, doesn't make it any less weird. "M' name's Andre of Astora, I serve in this shrine as a humble smith forging new weapons." Taking another glance, you see that scattered around are an assortment of various blades, hammers, and other weapons.

"I see she's woken up." You hear another voice call out from behind Andre. You peek behind the man, because he's large enough that he blocks your line of sight, to see Hawkwood approaching.

"Ah, Hawkwood, here to try and sharpen your unused blade again?" Andre says flatly.

"Ha, very funny." You get the impression that stuff like this happens a lot to him. "I just wanted to make sure the girl was alright." He looks at you as if he wants to say something more, but seems to think better of it. "Anyhow, I'd best inform the Fire Keeper that her 'Ashen One' is back amongst the technically living. Could you introduce her to the handmaid in the meantime, Andre?"

"Can't y' do that yourrself?" Andre says, before he turns and realizes that Hawkwood already walked away.

Letting out a sigh, Andre turns to you. "He's.. always like that..." he says, prompting you to speak.

"Sayaka Miki." you reply.

"Well, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Miki."

Andre points to the left of the path that you now recognize leads back to the pit of ash at the center of the shrine. "Over there is the Handmaid of the Shrine, who you may want to meet. She's the one who's able to provide supplies. Although..." he covers his mouth with a hand before he whispers the next part, as if trying not to be overheard, "don't ask where she gets them."

"Now, I need to get back to work, unless there's anything else y' need?"

---

[] Stay and talk to Andre
- [] Show him that weird rock you found earlier, maybe he knows what it is?
- [] Ask him about something else?
[] Go and meet the Shrine Handmaid
- [] See what she has in stock.
- [] See if she can answer any questions.
[] Hawkwood looked like he had something he wanted to say to you, maybe you should go find out what it was?
[] Write In

"Well, there was one thing." You say.

"Hm?" Replies Andre. "And that would be?"

You look over the table where your things seem to have been left, and pick up the stone, which still radiates a soothing sensation of warmth.

"When I... woke up earlier, I found this weird red rock." you say, appreciating the constant warmth radiating off the gem. It's surprisingly comforting. "Would you know anything about it?"

"Ah, that would be a Fire Gem." Andre's eyes seem to light up as he realizes where the topic of conversation is moving. "Aye, that is a rare thing to simply stumble upon! Normally y' would have to dig that out of a demon's corpse."

You slowly place the stone back down and try to wipe your hands, as Andre chuckles at the look of disgust on your face. "Don't y' worry too much, there's no harm in handling a titanite gem."

"Titanite gem? Do you mean like, titanium or some other metal?"

"Titan- what?" Andre looks almost offended by your comment. "Do y' not even know about the metal of the Gods?" When you fail to respond, Andre simply sighs and continues. "Titanite was created by the Blacksmith Deity long ago. It's used to reinforce weapons and armor due to it's unique properties that allow it to be etched into weapons."

"Etched, like, carved into?" You ask, not really following.

"Y' could think of it that way. It's more complicated than that, but I doubt y'd be interested in the finer details. You were asking about the Fire Gem, aye?"

You nod, and Andre reaches over and grabs the Fire Gem, bringing it up as he studies it for a moment, before he nods and puts it back down. "Titanite gems are essentially just pieces of titanite that have absorbed certain... properties, shall we say, of their environment. So, this gem most likely came from the body of a demon, or some source of uncorrupted flame. And y' said y' just found it...?" Andre pauses for a moment, clearly trying to think of some explanation, before he just shakes his head. "Unless a demon happened to die around there, I'm not sure what it could have been doing there. I haven't seen a Fire Gem that large in a long time." Andre seems almost nostalgic as he seems to be thinking of some other time, before he realizes what he's doing.

"Ah, sorry! Anyhow, the way Titanite Gems are used is a process known as infusion. Infusion allows a weapon to absorb whatever properties a piece of Infused Titanite has collected, and have them apply to it. So in the case of a Fire Gem," he taps the gem several times as emphasis "it would make whatever weapon you apply it to burn whatever it touches."

You don't really get the specifics, but you think you kind of get the gist. Firstly, carving rocks into your weapon somehow makes them better. Secondly, you can have a sword that is on fire you think?

"Now," Andre says, turning back to the sword he was hammering, "unless there's anything else, I do need to get back to work."

---

[] Request Andre...
- [] Answer more questions (Such as?)
- [] Reinforce (Unable to) or Infuse a weapon.
[] Go and meet the Shrine Handmaid
- [] See what she has in stock.
- [] See if she can answer any questions.
[] Hawkwood looked like he had something he wanted to say to you, maybe you should go find out what it was?
[] Write In
[] Are you forgetting anything?

So this Titanite stuff can make weapons stronger? That would've been helpful earlier when you were fighting that Gundyr guy. Having your weapons break on you in the midst of a fight is a bit of an issue. While you could just make more, it would be reassuring if you had at least one that wouldn't up and break on you when you needed it most.

"So you're saying that etching some of this Titanite stuff onto a sword will make it stronger?" you ask, unsure of what exactly this entails. Like, do you just rub a rock on it or something?

Andre turns his head back to you, a hint of surprise appearing across his face before it quickly vanishes beneath a good natured smile. "Aye, that it does. A weapon reinforced with Titanite is simply better than it would be otherwise. Essentially, Titanite reinforcement will make a weapon more effective, whether it be a blade slicing through flesh or a hammer striking armor. The most notable part of Titanite reinforcement lies in the increase of durability."

Andre raises the hammer he's holding in his hand, giving you a good look at it. It seems to be a simple iron hammer meant for smithing. "I've had this hammer here for as long as I can remember. Been with me ever since I first left Astora, so long ago. Used the first few shards of Titanite I stumbled upon on m' way to Lordran just to make certain it would always be of use. It hasn't broken once, and, flame-willing, that will stay true."

"And how long ago was that?" you ask.

"I lost count of that long ago, lass. Can barely remember much of those times, it's been so long."

Huh. So apparently just using small bits of the stuff makes weapons extremely resistant to pretty much everything, including time.

"So what's the catch? There has to be some downside to this stuff, right?"

Andre lets out a small chuckle, "It's not called the Metal of the Gods for nothing, lass, but aye, that much is true. Reinforcing a weapon tends to make them a bit heavier, and Titanite itself is a rare material, so don't expect to just find pieces lying around. Not like there's much left unmined regardless."

The weight issue isn't serious for you, so it seems as long as you can find some, you'll be able to get at least some weapons reinforced. The only question is how much you would need.

"How much do you need to actually reinforce a weapon?" you ask.

"Well, it depends on several factors," Andre replies, "such as the size and origin of the weapon, as well as the level of reinforcement already present. Infusions, on the other hand, are much simpler, only requiring a Titanite Gem. For a sword like the one y' use, it'd only take a few shards for the first few reinforcements. Speaking of which, would y' mind if I had a look at the sword y' have there?"

You realize that you never actually got rid of the sword you summoned when you first woke up. "Oh! Uh, sure." you mumble out, your face flushed with embarrassment. Luckily for your dignity, Andre seems much more interested in your weapon than anything else, quickly running his eyes all over every part of it.

"Hmm..." he mumbles softly as he continues his examination. You hear bits and pieces about 'soul transportition' or something like that, and other weird mumbo jumbo words you don't understand. Finally, after what felt like an eternity (but was more likely around 20 minutes), seemingly satisfied, Andre turns his gaze back to you. "This seems to be a soul-transposed weapon. Normally y' can't infuse a weapon like this, and upgrading is much more difficult to do, but for some reason that doesn't seem to be the case here. Fascinating..." he strokes his beard in thought, mumbling something about showing it to some guy named Ludleth, whoever that is, before continuing. "Normally I'd ask for payment for smithing work, but y' got me interested enough that, if y' want me to, I'll get about infusing that Fire Gem y' have there into this blade for free."

---

[] Have Andre infuse the Fire Gem into your sword.
[] Don't infuse it, who knows how shoving a magical rock into a magical weapon will turn out?

---

[] Ask Andre something else (Requires not having him infuse the sword being selected)
[] Go and meet the Shrine Handmaid
- [] See what she has in stock.
- [] See if she can answer any questions.
[] Hawkwood looked like he had something he wanted to say to you, maybe you should go find out what it was?
[] Andre mentioned someone named Ludleth or something like that, maybe you should try and find him?
[] Maybe you should find the Fire Keeper? You imagine she most likely wants to talk to you.
[] Write In

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